While the automotive vehicle installations of fluid conduits is an example of where connector assemblies of the type provided by this invention may be advantageously utilized and provides representative illustrations of problems solved by the connector assembly, it will be understood that reference to this background is not deemed limitative as to use in application of the invention. Automotive vehicles utilize many different fluid conduits with the primary conduit being those for fuel, water and refrigerants. Production of automobiles requires assembly of the various fluid conduits to either other conduits or to apparatus components. Interconnection of the components and conduits is substantially a manual operation and an operation which is not particularly susceptible to mechanization. Consequently, there is a significant cost factor represented by the manual labor that is involved.
The connector assemblies that have been heretofore employed as an essentially uniform practice by automotive manufacturers comprise threaded fittings and conduits that must be threaded together and invariably require the use of wrenches to assure a fluid tight seal. To reduce the labor costs involved in the otherwise time consuming operation of manually assembling the threaded couplings, attempts have been made to devise quick connect type connector assemblies through an axial insertion of the one component into another with the two elements then being retained together by either a detent mechanism or by a resilient interconnecting mechanism.
While labor costs are a significant factor in assembly of the conduit connectors, the component costs and effectivity in forming a fluid tight seal are other factors of substantial importance. Quick connectors of relatively costly construction such as the detent mechanism type have been available. While quick connectors of this type are capable of providing an effective fluid tight seal, the cost of such devices has been prohibitive when compared with labor costs and the cost of the threaded type connectors. Accordingly, the efforts in devising suitable quick connector assemblies for use in the automotive industry have been directed to utilization of plastic materials with the components being configured to permit economical molding and avoidance of costly machining operations that are customarily associated with detent-type connectors fabricated from metal heretofore employed.